I’ve experienced my fair share of book disappointment; it’s inevitable when you read 100+ novels a year. However, I can’t seem to remember a single instance where I failed to enjoy a book that was recommended to me by a friend. Maybe I haven’t had enough coffee yet and my brain is still asleep but I’m honestly drawing a blank. I’m not talking about all of the random recommendations I get on GoodReads on a daily basis because I stopped taking those seriously like, the day after I signed-up to the site.
I’m talking about either real life friends or bloggers that I’ve been following for six months or more. All of these people know me pretty well and have a good idea of what my preferences are. Whenever they recommend a novel to me my biggest mistake is usually delaying in reading it because once I do, I realize that I should have done so ages ago. I’ve discovered some of my favourite series through recommendations namely the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning (recommended by Julie from Yummy Men and Kick Ass Chicks), the Firelight series by Kristen Callihan (recommended by Amber I from Awesomesauce Book Club) and the Downside Ghosts series by Stacia Kane (recommended by Jennifer from The Book Nympho). So, am I the exception to the rule?
Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
I have experienced book disappointment, but only from reading on my own, not usually from a friend.
I’m happy to hear that I’m not alone in this. I thought I was a weirdo. LOL
Cant say that I have as of yet. I have to say I just about liked the rec”s by my friends & fellow blogger.
Good. 🙂
I think it only happened once, with a Stephen King novel *oops* I usually enjoy reading the books that are recommended to me.
Ooh well, we’re bound to stumble across a bad egg every now and then…
I actually haven’t been disappointed by a recommendation from a friend yet. I’ve had a few books that I’ve gotten from publishers and authors that I haven’t liked, but that’s about it. I don’t usually get a whole lot of recommendations to begin with.
That’s good. You’ve avoided the whole” the book you recommended sucks” confession, so far.
I agree with your whole answer. I’ve not had any book disappointments based on recommendations from friends/bloggers. Sometimes if it’s a series it might take me to the 2nd book to really fall in love but I usually get there.
Exactly! I was skeptic about your DS recommendation at first but now I’m hooked.
So let’s see… that 2 or 3 series I’m recommended to you and love them. I think you can now trust my recommendations. LOL
There’s only one that comes to mind and it’s for a NA novel. I read a lot of contemporary romance pre-blog and now it’s my go-to when I want to switch it up. There’s some NA that I enjoyed but this one in particular felt so juvenile.
I think for the most part people only recommend books to their friends if they really enjoyed the book themselves and think it fits the style of book their friend reads (or want to push their boundaries to something they don’t usually read). I can’t think of anything off the top of my head that a friend recommended and I really disliked. Maybe some things were not my normal cup of tea, but I did find them interesting and worthy of reading.
You’re definitely not alone. I’ve not been disappointed on books that my friends and favorite bloggers have recommended either. I have had one or two that I may not have liked quite as much as they did, but I did enjoy those books.
From fellow bloggers, the problem is that sometimes the bar is set too high and when you read the book if you had entered with regular expectation you would have liked it, maybe even loved the book but because your expectations where too high it comes out short.